Why poor and minorities vote democratic......Report finds national voting disparity
July 9, 2001 Posted: 9:22 AM EDT (1322 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Voters in congressional districts with low incomes and high percentages of minorities were far more likely to see their ballots discarded in the 2000 presidential election than voters in wealthier districts with fewer minorities, The Washington Post has reported, citing a new national study.
But the report concluded that modern voting machines can significantly reduce the disparity, according to the Post.
The report, prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee and scheduled for release Monday, is the first comprehensive nationwide examination of voting patterns and error rates. It shows that what happened in Florida last year was not an isolated phenomenon.
Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, among those who requested the study, said he was surprised at the disparities between low-income and wealthier areas and hoped the findings would prod Congress into action.
"I think a lot of people thought the problem was a Florida problem and not a problem all around the country," Waxman said. "This report shows it's a national issue and we need the federal government to step in."
The study was conducted by committee Democrats without participation by Republicans.
Mark Corrallo, a Republican spokesman for the Government Reform Committee, told the Post that Republicans had not seen the report and he could not comment on the findings.
But he said the findings did not sound "completely unreasonable or shocking."
The study builds on earlier analyses of Florida and elsewhere that documented higher rates of discarded or uncounted ballots in minority or low-income areas, as well as an earlier report by the minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee that showed the beneficial effect of introducing upgraded voting technology in Detroit.
But the new study went deeper, concluding that although voters in low-income areas were more likely to see their ballots not counted, newer voting machines could help.
Overall, the study found that 4 percent of all ballots cast in the low-income districts were not tallied for the presidential race, compared with 1.2 percent in the higher-income districts. In two low-income districts, about 1 in 12 ballots was not counted in the presidential race, while the lowest error in one of the more affluent districts was 0.4 percent, according to the Post.
Copyright 2001 Reuters. |
